MySQL is a relational database management system (DBMS) that can import, export, and edit structured data in tables for exploratory data analysis. The advantage of using relational database software like MySQL over a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel is in the separation of the data from the program itself. While Excel holds the data as well as the formulas and output of analysis in the same file, MySQL creates a relational database that multiple users can interact with simultaneously through structured query language (SQL) queries, allowing for data analysis workflows that are fast, secure, and scalable.
MySQL is important to learn because it performs quickly with large datasets, supports collaboration, and can prepare data to be used with other analysis tools. MySQL can import and export data to and from spreadsheets as well as other databases enabling data collection, analysis, and presentation across various platforms. And, although relational databases are not suited for unstructured data analysis, MySQL can integrate with Hadoop distributed file systems (HDFS) for big data insights with the use of packages like Apache Sqoop and Hive, Hadoop Applier, and Cloudera Impala.